20 Instagram post ideas for everybody

Content Marketer and Writer
Updated 02 February, 2024
Julia Moore
Content Marketer and Writer
It happens at the worst time that the inspiration’s gone, and you’ve used all the drafts saved for a rainy day. Both beginners and the old hands deal with the problem. We’ve made a list of 20 Instagram post ideas to get through it.
Reading time — 15 minutes

1. Posts about people and yourself

The first photo or video in your Instagram profile should be an introduction, so here are some personal post ideas. Tell shortly about your company or yourself. There you say who you are and what you do, why you created this account, what people might be interested in your content. You shouldn’t make the text long. Save the details for the future posts.

A good introductory poist idea for Instagram is interesting facts about your brand or life. Actually, you can use it anytime.

Instead of a photo, you can make a list of statements and ask the subscribers to guess which of them are true or, on the contrary, false.

Tell users about your profiles in other social networks if you have any. Maybe, your followers use Twitter or Facebook more often, but haven't signed up to you yet. You can well invite users to your other Instagram profiles.

Having introduced yourself, you can tell the audience about other people. Those who inspire you, or whose content you find useful. Repost and explain what exactly you like in their profiles, how you found them. There can be so many ideas for Instagram posts!

Mention and thank people who helped you to arrive at success. Maybe you want to point out one of the subscribers because of his or her high involvement, donation, support. Or you consider posts in the profile interesting.

Express your love and respect to the nearest people in your next post. Wish happy birthday or happy anniversary to the dearest.

People outside the Internet can also inspire. Even if they don’t view the post, you motivate the subscribers to do the same.

In business, there is also a room for a mention and gratitude. Tell users about a long-term partnership, its beginning, perspective and the work that has been done. 

2. Storytelling

Every day something happens to us. The thing can be minor, but what matters is how you present it.

Got lucky today? Great! Persuade your subscribers that wonders are real! Bad luck happened? Very good, you’ve got another idea for an Instagram post. Share how you dealt with the situation. 

You can tell about other’s experiences. Things worth posting on Instagram happen with your nearest, acquaintances, or local popular people.

A story can be large-scale and long, then describe it in several posts. Don't forget to add hashtags or use the same title. Photos and pictures with similar design are also a good way to link posts of the same story.

What's more, a story shouldn’t always be real. You can convey your idea with words, thoughts and actions of a character, not speaking directly from yourself. A made-up story coincidentally matching reality is a way to voice your opinion, avoiding the censure.

Stories to post happen even in the most dull businesses. Tell how you freighted а shipment. It is difficult to take a bad seascape. Complete the marine art with the waypoints descriptions and write whether the journey was difficult. Amuse the subscribers with local or sailor’s fables.

3. Daily routine posts

A routine window sight may turn into a magnificent Instagram picture if you use editing tools. And if you add inspiring thoughts in the caption, the post will get no fewer likes and comments than any other one in your profile. Describe feelings and emotions caused by the place you took the photo from.

Post a morning view from your window and write thoughts you have waking up under it. You can also post a view that you see from a window of your favorite restaurant. Maybe you are the lucky one who’s got a house by the sea or in a picturesque village, such beauty must be shared with subscribers for sure. 

As for Instagram post ideas for business, you can post a photo of a view from their office in a high-rise building. A picture of a parking lot will be appreciated by the subscribers of an auto centre. Pet store staff are very lucky — content with animals always gets a good response.

4. Advice and tutorials

A piece of advice or a game-changing hack are also good ideas to post on Instagram. They can be designed as a text on a beautiful background in your profile. Add detailed description in the caption below. Make a video to explain complicated things. Remember about the time limits for posts. Long video-instruction, with the duration of more than a minute, should be uploaded as an IGTV with a post-preview. 

Post a check-list, information is easier to understand if it is divided into parts. Long list can be posted on Instagram as multiple photos in a carousel. Users can add the posts in Saved to have a brief guideline at hand. 

If you promote your brand on Instagram, you are probably a specialist in some field. So you know some insights and arcanes and can share it with users. Unique solutions to difficult situations will get many likes. 

5. Leisure time

Show what you like to listen to, read, watch. It may be things you’ve just finished or tackled recently, or your options for the future. Tell how much you like them and whether they were worth the spent time. You can also advise something more interesting and useful.

The same is for places to go. Make a post with your latest discoveries or favorite spots of a city. Tell their stories, related events of your life and how you found these places. Mark the address so that people can visit them.

Business profiles can post compilations on their topic. A list of books on programming, photos taken during an office party, or computer games reviews are all good options for a computer shop. 

6. Challenges you start

Don't miss the opportunity to participate in a challenge. Some of them will give you Instagram post ideas for a long time ahead. Start your own marathon or challenge to involve your followers. 

A sports goods shop profile can run an everyday marathon of squats or pull-ups. A bakery can suggest its subscribers to cook and post a dish on a set topic — desserts, salads, drinks, or it can be national dishes from around the world changing the country week by week.

7. Goals and plans ideas

Looking forward is another good idea for Instagram posts. Set goals for a day, week, month or year. Tell about them in your account and report the progress regularly. 

Show a project in process, intermediate results of a big task. Write what’s been done and what lies ahead. If you are painting a picture, show what it looks like now.

Round off results. Choose the figures that present you in a positive light. In a personal profile, one can share the number of steps or miles they’ve run, or increased number of followers. 

Graphs of growing sales and number of affiliates are good for harmless flaunting in a business account. Photos of your house renovation progress will maintain the subscribers’ interest — show a design of a completed part.

Post an announcement of a live stream, an offline event or new product launch. To get a higher audience involvement, give a hint and ask followers to guess what you are planning. What chips flavor is hitting shelves of the supermarkets soon? Where will be the building of a new affiliate? Who is the star-billing of the next show episode? Where are you going next weekend?

8. Achievements to post on Instagram

Even on the most boring day, there is a victory to share with your followers. Because sometimes getting up in the morning is a real feat. And if then you manage to do all that you have to do, you are a superhero of the day. But do not overfill your profile with such routine feats.

Comparing "before" and "after" is another post idea that is easy to make. Emphasize the difference in the description, especially if it is not obvious. For brands, it’s an opportunity to show an example of a work to attract more clients. 

A company can also post about signing a big contract. Tell how great your presentation or negotiation was. Or maybe you succeeded in purchasing materials at a good price and you can offer a discount for your subscribers? Be sure, your followers will be glad to know they can buy your product for a lower price.

Even if you failed a presentation, you should post about it on Instagram. You not just lost a good deal, but have gained some experience, so share it with the subscribers. In the next post, tell users about your last failure and the conclusion you made. You can also add some advice.

9. Trend posts

Don’t forget about current events and newsbreaks. Holidays, sports competitions, Coronavirus, new iPhone release concern everybody, or at least your followers are aware about them. You can share your opinion on that and discuss it with your audience in the comments.

Make a banner with the most urgent topic. Share a post that refers to a new film or computer game before their premiere night. Before a football match, create an advertisement on a sports topic. This is a great Instagram post idea for business. No matter what you do, your product can always be related with the current talk of the town.

Here are examples of creative Instagram posts on trending topics.

10. Fun and creative Instagram posts

Fun and creative IG posts are highly appreciated by the audience. They can increase your engagement. Try out a funny mask, post a meme or joke on your profile topic. Ask a riddle or suggest a puzzle. They shouldn’t be difficult, people use Instagram to relax, not to think hard.

Among posts of your good offers and discounts, among photos of beautiful breakfasts and architecture, there is a room for a joke. Memes and fun photos are always good content ideas for Instagram. Except only for those who deliberately keep their reputation solid. 

11. A minute to relax

Post a beautiful picture to let your Instagram followers just take a breath while scrolling the feed. A photo with large objects, smooth lines and neutral colors gives eyes a rest. 

Suggest users to deeply breathe in and out so that they take their mind off the problems and relax. Video and nature sounds, or slow music calm down racing thoughts. 

Business accounts can post relaxing content related to their product. Purring cats and chirping birds are good for a pet shop. A video of a fire or river is good for a camping equipment store. 

Content to post on Instagram here and now

You can post on Instagram right now even if you can’t take a photo. 

12. Old photos for new posts

Look for photos in your smartphone or computer gallery. Some of them must be enough Instagramable to post. Describe what things and people in the picture mean to you or your company. Even if the picture displays nothing special, it probably has significant events lying behind.

13. Reposts on Instagram

You don’t have to post your own photos. Every day users share almost 100 million photos and videos to Instagram. Some of them will do great for your profile, so you can look for a picture or video to repost. Add to that, you can repost your own Instagram Stories to the grid. Read more about reposting in our article How to repost on Instagram.

14. Q&A posts

Answer users' questions from comments, Direct messages or messages from other social networks. A picture with a question in it can be used instead of a photo. Write your answer in the caption or on the next slides of the carousel.

Dispel subscribers’ myths and false assumptions. If you face negative, accusing or false suggestions, dedicate a series of posts to make the issues clear. 

In a post you can also ask subscribers’ opinion on a particular thing, or help in making a decision. After all, ask what they would like to see in their Instagram feed. You don't have to take a photo in this case either. A thematic picture or text on a beautiful background will also work.

More content ideas for business and brands

All these are good IG post ideas for business or brands. In addition to them, you can add photos specifically for promotion. Such content increases sales and loyalty to your brand.

15. Instagram shoppable posts

Business accounts have a tool to place catalog links on a post. Create a fashionable look or make-up, tag the products that you used on the photo. Set up a workplace or room using your store’s assortment. Things might look not so attractive separately, but everything changes when you put them in the right decorations — they look appealing to buy.

16. Show your product in work

Tell Instagram users more about your product. Post pics where you show its advantages, regular or not obvious situations to use it. A series of photos is good for simple things like building supplies, clothes, household appliances. But a video is always more usable, so make sure to learn some simple video editor for Instagram.

Post instructions. Describe a product's features few people know about. Of course, a printed version of instructions is an essential attachment to your product, but very few people open it until something goes wrong. Pictures and videos on Instagram, on the other hand, are more likely to be viewed unlike the tiny letters on the paper. Get even more sales posting an instruction on how to purchase your product. 

17. Other Instagram users' opinion

Repost or take pictures of clients using your product or service. Thus, adding user generated content to your brand's profile, you show the good is popular, and it is in demand. It’s even better if there are influencers among your clients.

Post quotes about your product from interviews with authorities. A positive opinion of a specialist increases credibility to your brand. 

Add reviews from social media, apps, your website to prove the trust. If your clients write reviews in a paper guestbook, take a photo of the feedback and post it in your profile. 

18. Contests and raffles

Social media is a good place to host a contest or raffle. They make it easier to take part than when hosting offline. Brands like raffles as a real way to gain more subscribers. 

19. Special offers for your Instagram followers

Another good idea is posting discounts and special offers on Instagram. This will also help to get more followers if you provide these offers only for your people on social media. Tell people offline about the profit they get if they subscribe to your profile.

20. Team and backstage

Introduce your team members to get closer to the audience. If your followers think about your brand as of a group of people, not a logo or building, your connection is more emotional. 

Show your employees working on a production, tell interesting specifications about every stage. Interview staff or film them working. Subscribers are curious to see what's out of the public eye. They want to know not only about your attractive wrap, but also about the insights.

A company can dedicate a post to each employee. Tell how he or she got into your company, what their job, interests and hobbies are. 

Instagram content plan

Keep along a specified theme to easily come up with what to post on Instagram. Subscribers expect to see more of what caught them initially. Don't disappoint users subscribed after a good car review with green thumb advice. 

Let more people see your amazing posts! Launch in-app ads or use free ways to promote posts.

The Instagram post ideas above are good for posting to your profile for the first time, however, if you want more followers, you should find Instagram post ideas relevant exactly to your niche. For example, here are 200+ fitness Instagram post ideas that you can use.

Below you can read how to find great Instagram post ideas whatever your niche is. 

Where to look for Instagram post ideas

Having decided on your profile topic, go for inspiration and photoshoot ideas to users’ profiles with similar content. Instagram is not the only platform to search, you can also find inspiration on other social media networks, websites, forums.

Use Google Keyword Planner or Google Trends to learn about users' most popular queries in your field. 

Bookmark our article to go back when you don’t know what to post on Instagram. 

Make a content plan

You won’t have to think about Instagram post ideas every day if you make a content plan.

An easy way to deal with the issue of what to post is to define a subject for every day. If you have few IG content ideas, make a content plan for a week. For example:

  • Monday — week goals.
  • Tuesday — advice for high productivity.
  • Wednesday — a film to watch tonight.
  • Thursday — inspirational quotes.
  • Friday — a funny video or pic.
  • Saturday — a recipe or cafe to have a perfect weekday breakfast.
  • Sunday — a place to go.

There are more Instagram content ideas for profiles with a broad theme. Then the ideas can be repeated not weekly, but monthly. And if you add content rarely, they will be repeated after longer periods. 

On the Internet, you can find various content plans. To give just one example:

Bonus! Turn one post into 9 or 12

A series of the similar photos come at hand when you’re lacking Instagram post ideas but need to make a content plan for several days or even weeks. Choose a photo. Divide it into 9 or 12 pictures and post one by one. It’s important not to post other pics between them. Then the whole picture appears on your profile page. 

Every part of the main photo should be an independent image. Remember, these posts are shown separately in Instagram feeds. Abstract photos with something unidentifiable will confuse users. 

Use online services like ImageSplitter to turn a picture into a series of similar parts. Or applications for iOS and for Android

You can write anything under such photos. It can be a big text divided into parts, or these things may not be related to each other, but always stay within the profile topic. 

Boost your business on Instagram

If you are interested in Instagram post ideas for business, you probably would like to increase your sales. Here is a tip. Sign up on Taplink to create landing pages. On the pages you can display detailed information that hasn't fitted in a post caption. Direct users to follow the link in your bio to see instructions, work examples, discounts, announcements or to make an order. 

On a Taplink landing you can place an unlimited number of links, pictures, your HTML blocks, chat app buttons. Beautiful design can be applied to the pages, make your own or choose one of more than 200 ready design themes.

Templates make creating landing pages an easy-peasy thing. You only need to add your information there. This is a page template example that you can use after a quick sign-up: macarons shop. This is how one of the page sections looks:

The bottom line

These are Instagram post ideas everyone can use. Try them all! You can schedule posts ahead right in the IG app. Thus, you can rest assured your profile will be updated with new content in time. 

Don't be afraid of the day when you’ve run out of Instagram post ideas. Every moment can become a photo that is worth sharing. If you still struggle with what to post, use or list to choose a content idea your followers are interested in. You will get more likes and comments.

Pin your Instagram posts with the most important information. These may be current challenges, tutorials, updates and what not! 

You may also need  ideas to post in Instagram Stories, here are more that 100 questions to ask your followers.